Manipulation is the bane of humanity. Most of us will flow through life meeting a variety of people and most of them either become great acquaintances or dear friends. However once in a while we run into people who appear to have the best of intentions. It’s the small details you notice, first they ask you do something your uncomfortable with and eventually that snowballs until you it’s to late to realize what happened. The following review contains spoilers, so be sure to read your comic prior to continue reading. You have been warned.

First aspect I must discuss is Lisbeth’s redesign. I understand the idea that villains need to be more outlandish than their heroic counterparts. However in Lisbeth’s case she is over designed. Personally I enjoy the dual colored wings she has because it already matched with her skin prior to this issue. It’s really the added horns that puts her visual look over the edge. Much credit Ronan Cliquet who manages to make Lisbeth intimidating despite her ridiculous appearance. As for Lisbeth’s characterization within this issue, I enjoyed that served as an allegory for current youths and their fight for what’s there but a twisted version. Lisbeth as a villain was serviceable at best. Although I did role my eyes after reading “clickbait” within a comic book.

One of the best things about this arc is the emotional exploration for Simon. We all love these characters, and while it might pain most readers to see their favorite characters in anguish it progresses them forward. Having Simon deal with being manipulated by the very woman he was had feelings for, his memories of his time in jail brought up once again. It’s a testament to Simon’s character that despite the emotional turmoil inside he over comes it. Yes Baz still manages to retain his hotheadedness but that is inherit to his personality so I don’t expect that to change any time soon.

Ronan Cliquet’s art continues to be solid each time he draws an issue. Given that this chapter was more action oriented than other parts he has drawn within this arc, I got the impression that he was flexing his muscles. Each action scene had something unique about it, from one panel it would from multiple Lisbeth’s to a giant mech crushing down on the pop star turned villain. My personal favorite sequence involve Jessica preparing to take Lisbeth to the dark ages. While I love Seeley’s writing, it’s Cliquet’s art that brings life to this issue.

Overall I really enjoyed Seeley’s first arc, he managed to dive deeper into the psyche of Simon Baz and still managed to make Jessica relevant to the story at hand. Bonus points for making this arc about Abin Sur’s home world and not have him dominate any of the conversations. This issue in particular was a great action romp that prodded deeper into Baz’s internal thoughts. I even enjoyed the real world allegory to our current day issues that we face. After all the best form of science fiction reflects upon current society, and this issue executed that in grand fashion. I’m eager to see where Seeley plans to take Jessica and Simon as he continues his run along the cosmic space ways.

Green Lanterns #39 earns a 4/5